Words That Make Me Crazy
Dr. Alf Pratte (whom I called Alf) was a professor of journalism at Brigham Young University, and I had the privilege of taking two of his classes. He was a man of small stature, who had no problem filling a 300-seat auditorium with sound and personality. He was also incredibly sarcastic and a perfectionist who expected the best of his students. Alf taught me more about writing than…well…anyone else.
Of all Alf’s lessons, the one thing that I refer to all the time is his “List of Words That Make Me Crazy.” Maybe it will help you as you write/edit/revise. (I’m listing these in the order that I can remember them…not like I saved some random scrap of paper for almost a decade.)
What words or phrases make you crazy, whether incorrectly used or overused? Help refresh my memory and make a bigger list!
P.S. It’s totally awesome that I did a post on misused words when the Blogger Spell Check feature isn’t working.
Of all Alf’s lessons, the one thing that I refer to all the time is his “List of Words That Make Me Crazy.” Maybe it will help you as you write/edit/revise. (I’m listing these in the order that I can remember them…not like I saved some random scrap of paper for almost a decade.)
- Kid/Child: A kid is a goat. A child is a human.
- That: You can remove 90 percent of the ‘that’ in your writing. People are never ‘that.’
- Its/It’s: The first is possessive (something belongs to it) and the second is a conjunction of the words it and is. (I mess this one up all the time…mostly because I’m typing too quickly)
- Than/Then: Than is used for comparisons (i.e. rather than). Then refers to the timing of an event.
- Beach Speech: Dude, just, like, no way, and really can be used sparingly and in dialogue.
- Anyway: Even though people misuse it in dialogue (i.e. “Anyways, we went”) it should never be plural.
- Used to/Supposed to: Do not omit the ‘d.’
- For all intents and purposes: This one actually makes me crazy. The phrase is not ‘for all intensive purposes.’
- Precede/Proceed: Something precedes if it comes first. Use proceeds if it follows.
- Elicit/Illicit: Elicit is a verb meaning ‘to invoke.’ Illicit means that something is unlawful (or naughty…I like to use the word illicit 🙂
What words or phrases make you crazy, whether incorrectly used or overused? Help refresh my memory and make a bigger list!
P.S. It’s totally awesome that I did a post on misused words when the Blogger Spell Check feature isn’t working.
32 Comments
Jess
For me, there’s only one that gets to me–when people say, “I could care less about that/her/it.” The phrase is supposed to be, “I could NOT care less.” Fun post, and your professor sounds like a character!
Becky Wallace
That’s a good one! Thanks Jess!
Shari
Those are good ones. Mine is irregardless, which isn’t actually a word.
Liz
Misuse of their/there/they’re (and your/you’re).
The other one that annoys me isn’t being used incorrectly: literally. I’m just so sick of hearing it everywhere. It’s literally making me crazy.
Susanna Leonard Hill
I had a teacher who was nuts over people misusing “hopefully.” She had a sign on her door that said, “Abandon hopefully all ye who enter!” I think pretty much everyone, myself included 🙂 misuses hopefully.
Loved the post and wish I could have met the prof!
Trisha
I’m a grammar Nazi 😉
Jeigh
I hear “supposubly” a lot instead of “supposedly” and it drives me nuts!
Lindsay N. Currie
Oooh, I like these. We totally need to do one on mispronunciations because I actually have to restrain myself from punching people when I hear them say “nucular” instead of “nuclear”. Maybe I have a temper problem LOL.
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